Technical Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to visualization in ophthalmic surgical systems. More specifically, embodiments described herein relate to displaying a magnified image of a surgical target area in the eye as a surgeon views the procedure using an optical surgical microscope, a digital microscope with an external display device, and/or other suitable displays.
Related Art
Ophthalmic microsurgical procedures can involve very small anatomy in the eye. Surgeons can perform the microsurgeries while observing the anatomy and surgical tools using a surgical microscope. Surgeons can have two conflicting preferences while visualizing the surgical procedure. First, high magnification can be preferred in order for the surgeon to visualize the fine structural details of biological tissue as well as to precisely control the surgical tools. Second, and at the same time, a large field of view can be preferred so that all the maneuvers during the surgical procedure occur within the same field of view for the surgeon and can help provide an overall context of the position of the tool(s) during the procedure.
Currently, the size of the objects, such as the biological tissue and the surgical tools, in the image viewed by the surgeon can be changed based on the zoom settings of the surgical microscope. With a high magnification, the object size can be large, but the field of view is small. With a low magnification, the field of view can be large, but the object size is small.
Accordingly, the surgeon can either choose an intermediate zoom for the surgical microscope to have an acceptable magnification with an acceptable field of view, or repeatedly change the zoom to obtain high magnification or large field of view one at a time as needed. With the former approach, the surgeon compromises visualization by not being able to resolve some fine details. With the latter approach, the surgeon needs to frequently adjust the microscope zoom, such as by physically pressing a foot pedal, while holding the surgical tool held steady within a patient's eye, which further complicates the procedure and can increase risk to the patient.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved devices, systems, and methods that improve the ability to provide the surgeon high magnification images while simultaneously maintaining a large field of view by addressing one or more of the needs discussed above.